Objectively, what do you think the chances are that the Vita will have decent software support over the next 2-3 years?

Thinking of buying one... but I'm not parting with cash if the system's going the way of the dodo.

From October 1st to December 31st, 3DS is poised to sell 11 million units.

Vita isn't going anywhere. Software support is great now an will only get better, plus psp and ps1 games and ps2 hd collections. It got more games than you could shake a stick at. Don't be fooled by the haters.

DS had a very slow launch, it exploded with the touch generations games (Nintendogs, Brain Training...), New Super Mario and Mario Kart DS.

3DS seems very similar to DS. Slow start but cut price had the same effect og touch generation games! And 3DS XL increase the speed... obviously we don't have to ignore the good games we have starting from  2011 last quarter...

Even with the increase, 3DS is selling a tiny amount compared to the big DS years, >30 million

@kowen. I was just about to say the same thing.

Very true. The 3DS has already brought out the big guns the DS did. Now all that's left is the to see if the 3DS can continue the trend regardless, and what new phenomenon could make that come to be. Japanese games being ported over to the west, home console like western experiences coming to the 3DS? Both unlikely, but still only time will tell, and there could be something else.

In other words, the big guns of the DS are not the only ones in existence. There may be others. The other question is the how the market reacts to these offerings, and how the market trends work (some things work at some era, and the same things don't work in another).

@Kowen: You promised me a global chart :(

Maybe you just cracked the case here

A EU+US+JP cumulated graph is fine with me, should give a close enough picture of the whole situation. Thanks in advance, good job.